2017-01-14 Mount Angeles Attempt

Distance: 5.70 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2927 ft.

We got to the Hurricane Ridge parking lot around 9:30 AM and started skinning by 10. There were views for days in every direction. We skinned through the left (west) side of the resort, trying to stay out of the way of downhill skiers, and worked our way northeast to the ridge. There were pretty good skin tracks to follow as we continued northeast. The snow became very wet and was clumping aggressively to our skins, which slowed us down. We traversed in a clockwise fashion around the west side of Mt. Angeles until we got onto the northwest slopes of the mountain, where the snow became more firm and icy.

Rodrigo decided to take of skis and boot up to the summit while Craig and Vanessa had a snack 200 feet below. From there we all skied down, traversing high skier’s left (south) until the snow softened. Then we had quite a few good turns in soft spring corn-like conditions. We skinned back up and along the ridge and then skied down from the top of the resort back to the car. We were out by 3:30 PM, when it was already beginning to get dark! Dang Washington winters.